Free initial information from the banking law specialist law firm
Lawyer and specialist lawyer for banking and capital markets law Eser receives numerous calls from concerned bank customers who want to have their loan agreements checked for usury. Lawyer Eser has represented the interests of injured bank customers nationwide for more than 16 years.
Although credit usury is prohibited by law, there are unfortunately possibilities of circumvention, especially through the cost trap of a residual debt insurance.
If you factor in the costs of the mostly unnecessary residual debt insurance, you often end up in the usury, according to lawyer Eser.
Because the costs for the residual debt insurance are also financed by credit and are not shown in the effective annual interest rate. Incidentally, this is another starting point to get out of the loan agreement, keyword revocation joker, see below.
In this respect, the insurance makes the loan unnecessarily expensive because the insurance premium and agency commission are added to the loan amount. In addition, the bank receives a high commission for arranging the insurance.
What are the legal consequences of usury?
If the subjective and objective criteria of the usury paragraph, § 138 Abs. 2 BGB are present, the credit agreement is null and void by law. The borrower then only has to repay the loan amount without interest.
When does an interest rate count as usury?
There is no statutory upper limit in this respect.
In this respect, the case law decides on the basis of subjective and objective criteria.
With regard to the subjective criteria, Section 138 (2) BGB provides a legal definition. It reads there:
“In particular, a legal transaction through which someone, exploiting the predicament, inexperience, lack of judgment or the considerable weakness of will of another, promises himself or a third party pecuniary advantages for a service that is conspicuously disproportionate to the service is null and void “.
Banks are therefore not allowed to take advantage of their customers’ living conditions when granting loans.
Objective element of the offense: Usury of interest occurs when the contractually stipulated interest rate is relatively 100 percent (i.e. twice as high) or absolutely 12 percentage points above the market rate. In such a loan agreement, performance and consideration are disproportionate – at the expense of the borrower.
Other legal options for usury? Withdrawal joker!
In many cases, consumers who are confronted with usurious interest rates can also free themselves from their expensive loan agreements by using the so-called withdrawal joker.
If, for example, the mandatory information in the loan contract and / or the instruction in the cancellation information is incorrect, the borrower can cancel today and reverse the contract.
Our recommendation for those affected: Have claims checked by a specialist lawyer for banking and capital market law!
We have been advising and representing bank customers nationwide for over 16 years. We have extensive experience in out-of-court and in-court proceedings in this area. Take advantage of our offer of a free initial assessment.
Eser Rechtsanwälte have been working as an investor protection law firm for more than 16 years, mainly in the areas of capital investment and banking law. Damaged investors are represented nationwide vis-à-vis holding companies, banks and brokers.
The founder and owner of the law firm, Attorney Eser, is also a specialist lawyer for banking and capital market law and has many years of expertise in the field of banking and capital market law. In addition to his full-time activity as a lawyer, Mr. Eser has been teaching as a lecturer at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in the field of financial services since 2010.
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